Hello all,

I have been building a 1973 F100 with a 360 for hauling around the dirt bikes and a trailer for this summer and wanted your opinions on cooling. I have got a Motorcraft 2100, Edel 390 Dual Plane, long pipes into 3in collectors, little hotter cam and rebuilt heads on a 2x4 stock four speed with factory air.

My question has to do with towing a small camp trailer and two dirt bikes in the back in the Nevada and Northern California summer time. It could see outside temps in the low hundreds. I have the stock radiator in it with stock fan, no clutch. What would be the best setup for keeping this all from overheating? I was thinking an electric fan (Lincoln VIII), with an oil cooler (Hayden or Flex a Lite), and, maybe, a new radiator? Too much, not enough? Would a clutched fan be a better choice? Is adding an oil cooler going to adversely affect the oil pressure or keep it from reaching operating temperature? I have a 190 thermostat in it now, would it be better to put in a 175 or 180?

Any and all suggestions would be very grateful! Thank you!

 

here's what I did:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...for-460-a.html
some good discussion.

 

oil coolers are good, but especially if its gets chilly where you live, its important to run a thermostat on them. Also need to consider where to mount it. In front of the radiator would give it lost of air, but also block flow to the radiator, which might spell trouble if you already have air conditioning and a transmission cooler up there.

 

Thank you so much meborder, that was nigh on exactly what I was looking for. I do believe I will install an oil cooler with thermostat. The oil pressure issue was my main concern and looks like the cooler addresses both temperature and viscosity.

 

i have an oil filter relocation kit i want to put on my truck and maybe get the dual filter block also, mainly to hold a lil extra oil and wont hurt me with cold weather either so i wont have to worry about it year-round.

that solid fan cools well, a clutch will not help cooling it would actually hurt it. i would go with an electric fan, probably either dual 10's or 12's or a single 16". look in my pics to see how i mounted my single 14"! id rather have a 16" but the 14 does keep it down. in the summer i run 160* thermostats i would if i was you with all that haulin in hot climate. the only problem with the solid fan is that is makes hella noise and takes power to turn it, youll notice a difference without it!

another cheap help is go to walmart or a parts place and get the green bottle of coolant additive called hyperlube, it will lower your temp and protect that aluminum intake also!

you should do great with all that, mine is a stock 360 camper special with an eddy intake and headers

 

I'd be concerned about water temps 1'st, transmission temps 2'nd (if automatic) and engine oil temps 3'rd.

If the water temp is under control, that helps oil temp a lot. For water temps, its hard to beat the effectivness of a mechanical fan + shroud + good radiator. How does it cool now? If temps stay under control, leave it alone. If the radiator is getting plugged now og and/or water temp control is iffy, I'd start with the rad assuming the rest of the stock system is intact. I used a 3 core "HD cooling" replacement from Autozone. Reasonable price and so far so good. If you don't have a fan clutch, you can gain some slight MPG advantage by adding one. My truck did not have the clutch. I added a Hayden clutch (NAPA) and a 6 blade fan (Autozone) and a 1" spacer (NAPA) and some 5/16 studs (Ace Hardware) to set mine up. Its also quieter. It takes a very large electric fan to match the capacity of mechanical and can pull your electrical system down unless you have made significant upgrades.

For the transmission, coolers run by planned GVW. I haven't added one yet, when I do, I'll add a big one for around "15,000 GVW". Not much cost difference and might as well have a safety margin. Size of the high capacity units seems to be around 12"X12".

Your trailer does not sound super heavy. With water temps and transmisson temps under control, I wouldn't think it needs an engine oil cooler unless you are trying to climb hills at 75 mph.

 

stock mechanical fan will outflow electric fans, even double electric fans, every single day of the week. Electric fans can give you HP because you aren't spinning them with the crank, but they are also a massive electrical drain, which taxes the alternator and electrical system. Additionally they don't cool as well as a mechanical fan. nothing is free.

 

2x ^^^ Installed and removed the Lincoln MK VIII fan upgrade within 2 days; didn't like it at all. Give me a good clutch fan any day. Left the 3G upgrade though!
.

 

Great responses, thank you all so much. So, updating this build, I'm going to save the money on the electric fan, sacrifice a bit of hp to gain better cooling, put that money into a newer and bigger radiator, and, per meborder's thread suggestion, go ahead with a std sized oil cooler. I'm looking at radiators by core and size, not necessarily by brand or material. Does anyone have any suggestions for a new radiator? If I get the larger radiator, will I need to source a new shroud, or can I use the stock shroud, seeing as the radiator will be taller not necessarily wider? I will be hauling a 16ft 3k lbs toy hauler with two dirt bikes, so not tons of trailer. However, if I could, I'd like to get rid of my other truck and use this one to haul my fifth wheel as well.

 

old school brass radiators are actually more efficient at transferring heat than the fancy expensive aluminum ones. aluminum is cheaper and it weighs less. So for the typical truck application sticking with brass will tend to yield better results. I would tend to think your stock shroud will do fine. The shroud comes into play more at low speeds, at highway speeds the vehicle's speed is what forces most air through the radiator. I just read an entire thread devoted to shrouds here not too long ago. Seemed like someone was making some cool ones for different sizes radiators. Can't remember the specifics. But anyway if your shroud more or less fits the radiator, great, keep it. Tow your toy hauler with it and see how it does before you sell it to tow a bigger trailer.

idk personally the idea of using a 70's truck as my main tow vehicle would not sit that well with me, plus they just aren't comfortable for long trips.

 

I went radiator shopping for my '78/400M about 6 months ago. I checked out "radiators.com", Autozone and NAPA. I found copper, aluminum and plastic/aluminum versions ranging in price from about $125 to $550. Lowest cost was a copper 2 core stock spec from Autozone and a similar/same offering from radiators.com. The stock spec would have probably been OK except I plan engine upgrades and wanted more capacity. I went with a 3 core copper "HD cooling" version from Autozone for about $225. So far so good. It will get a good test this summer.